Steve Brodie, a twenty-six-year-old American from New…

Steve Brodie, a twenty-six-year-old American from New York City, claims to have jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge and survived on July 23, 1886.

The resulting publicity from the supposed jump, whose veracity is disputed, give Brodie publicity, a thriving saloon and a career as an actor.

Brodie's fame will persist long past his death, with Brodie portrayed in films and with the slang terms "taking a Brodie" and "Brodie" entering the language for "taking a chance" and "suicidal leap.” The bridge, known at this time as the East River Bridge, had opened just three years before Brodie's claimed jump.

A swimming instructor from Washington, D.C. named Robert Emmet Odlum, the brother of women's rights activist Charlotte Odlum Smith, had been killed while attempting the same stunt in May 1885.

The jump supposedly made by Brodie was from a height of one hundred and thirty-five feet (forty-one meters), the same as a fourteen-story building.

The contemporary New York Times account said the jump was from a height of about one hundred and twenty feet (thirty-seven meters).

In the years since Brodie claimed to have made the jump, controversy has swirled over whether he really did it.

Historian David McCullough said in his book The Great Bridge that he probably did not make the jump.

McCullough said that it was commonly believed by skeptics that a dummy was dropped from the bridge, and that Brodie merely swam out from shore and surfaced beside a passing barge. (McShane, Larry. "Did Saloon Owner Actually 'Pull a Brodie'?". Associated Press. Retrieved 22 October 2012.)